Pick-up trucks are extremely popular. One of their primary advantages is the ability to haul loads in the storage bed located behind the cab of the vehicle. Unfortunately, often the storage bed is of an undesirable configuration for the load being transported. In particular, it is not unusual for the load to be larger than the truck bed, so that the tailgate of the truck needs to be lowered to enable the load to adequately transferred. Unfortunately, this raises the risk that the load will fall out of the back of the truck, or that the load will need to be tied down, taking additional time.
For this reason, various truck bed extenders have been developed. These extenders are typically mounted to the truck bed by brackets or hinges. Truck bed extenders often comprise a series of light weight panels designed to be foldable to minimize their impact on storage space when not in use, as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,472,639 to Bianchi. Alternatively, the truck bed extenders may comprise strong, but relatively heavy and nonfoldable units, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,213 to Palmer. Palmer discloses extended side supports secured to the tailgate by brackets or welding and a supplemental tailgate. When the main tailgate is closed, the supplemental tailgate extends over the top of the vehicle's storage bed. It is disclosed that a flexible netting may be secured to the right and left supports so that the netting extends in a vertical plane to form a storage box.
There remains, however, a need for an improved truck bed extender.